Comments | little_details: Mayo Clinic/Rochester, MN

disney711 in little_details

Mayo Clinic/Rochester, MN - day to day life

Mar 29, 2007 21:25

Background: My character, a sixteen year old boy, and his family will be going to Rochester, Minnesota, to see his aunt at the Mayo Clinic. The aunt is currently an outpatient, but during his visit, she will be taking a turn for the worse and be admitted as an inpatient ( Read more... )

usa: health care and hospitals, usa: minnesota

Comments 6

kutsuwamushi March 30 2007, 01:44:28 UTC

Please edit your post to add a subject line that describes your question.

Granted my experience was in the late ninties but I was roughly 16... roguevla March 30 2007, 01:54:04 UTC

But it is just like a normal [private] hospital for the most part. The waiting areas for families were very comfortable. There are gardens around the hospital on the grounds and when I was there they had a duck nesting in one of the gardens so they had a camera set up that had a live closed circuit feed of the nest on one of the televisions. They have/had the patients on wireless monitors so they could, if they felt up to it, wander the ward or floor with their families. the doctors and nurses are however, in my exerience, a little better about keeping the families informed than in other hospitals, and are willing to talk to the families as they wait.

Rochester is just a nice medium sized town. But I was only there a handful of days and most days I spent in the hospital waiting. I think I went to one restaurant and stayed in a hotel in downtown near the hospital.

Re: Granted my experience was in the late ninties but I was roughly 16... disney711 March 30 2007, 02:40:09 UTC

Great, thanks! This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for, people who had had this experience.

(The comment has been removed)

bobcatmoran March 31 2007, 14:36:53 UTC

Just an addendum to that -- I seem to recall reading somewhere that, although they *did* get lots of Saudi princes and whatnot about a decade ago, post-9/11, the number of rich Middle Eastern patients dropped off hugely.

hyarmi_records March 30 2007, 13:28:17 UTC

If you want them to be able to get to Mayo easily, a place like The Kahler Hotel might be good for that (or even just name-dropping). Rather nice, though it's been a fair few years since I last stayed there (for a conference, mind). They could walk to the Mayo without going outside, a very nice thing if your tale is set during a Minnesota winter!

The Wikipedia entry might be helpful too, even if just for the photos. It was king Hussien of Jordan that died at the Mayo in 1999; I remember the headlines back then.

charactercomms March 30 2007, 15:47:39 UTC

Hey Lauren! :)

If you want a random thing for them to mention? From the car, in the city, they'd be able to see the Sisters of Saint Francis have a... oh, I don't know the proper term, a convent? Something like that there. You can see it from the car in the city, and it's gorgeous, up on a hill. The first time I was in Rochester, we spent forever trying to find our way up there to see it up close, and we finally managed.

There's a pretty nice map here and good pictures of downtown hereAlso, IBM has a HUGE headquarters in Rochester. They'll pass it on their drive from the airport down to town, but it's barely visible from the highway. So I guess that's not that helpful. But speaking of, if you remind me later, I'll ask my best friend who works there (and who lived in a suburb of Rochester until his wife got a job up here and he decided to start commuting) about any other Rochester info you want, since I've only been there a couple times myself ( ... )